Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Thief Of Thieves #1Thief Of Thieves #1
Image Comics
Kirkman, Spencer, Martinbrough & Serrano

The first issue from heavy-hitters Robert Kirkman and Nice Spencer is a crime drama that plays out a lot like the first episode of a TV show. The book carries the tagline on the front cover that there isn't anything he can't steal except the life he left behind. But does the book deliver on that premise in the first issue? Does the book provide something to stand out among the many other books that deal with tough characters set in criminal settings without superheroes? This first issue provides a good character outline and a decent story within the issue but doesn't really show that the book is going to be too fast paced or all that different from other crime books. Overall, I found the book to be a very ordinary read.

The book tells the story of Redmond, who happens to be a master thief. This particular issue establishes the man and the profession that he excels at. It makes use of flashbacks to show off multiple thefts, one being a car and the other being slightly more high risk. The book also provides the origin of one of his apprentices, Celia. Generally, the dynamic between the two is done very well and is probably the highlight of the comic.

Unfortunately, the tagline is not addressed in this book. Sure, the book is setting up the characters and providing a little bit of self-enclosed story but I think it would have helped to hook readers in for the next issue. After all, the book doesn't really set itself apart from other real-world-like criminal books like The Rinse or Criminal. Let alone compete with books that are crime based with supernatural elements such as Existence or Who Is Jake Ellis? Nick Spencer has an incredible ability to provide an unexpected cliffhanger but this issue doesn't contain that.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsThe art tells a good visual story. I liked the pacing of the comic as a whole and I think that is owed to how the art made the story move. The book uses a style that you might find in other crime books like Jake Ellis so it fits the latest version of the non-super hero genre. I'll assume the missing neck tattoos on Celia is because of makeup or tattoo removal and not an artistic mistake.

This book is clearly going to be carried based on the weight of the creator's names. Will the book take off? Possibly. This could easily be the kind of the book that you will kick yourself for not picking up the first issues down the road, but nothing about the first issue gets me excited for the second issue. It's also worth noting that the book contains twenty pages of story as it appears Image is following DC and Marvel's lead to drop the page count down. This is a very average comic book.

2.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles